Molding processes are valuable in industry. For example, during the manufacture of commercial airplanes and the like, many parts of aircraft interiors are manufactured using molding processes that employ matched metal dies. Such manufacturing process oftentimes have high, non-recurring costs for the tooling and related processing equipment required to produce or manufacture the aforementioned metal dies and/or other manufacturing components. These costs may include those associated with forming tools, dies, molds, fixtures and vacuum tools.
The aforementioned matched dies, for example, often require substantial or long lead-time for design and subsequent ordering from outside tooling shops to meet product manufacturing dates. In addition, the dies can be very heavy, very costly, and can require extensive polishing of the tool steel faces before being used, all of which contribute to increased time and cost.
Alternative methods and manufacturing processes for designing and producing the tooling for the production of aircraft interiors does exist, however these alternative processes also have drawbacks.
For example, some alternatives for the design and manufacture of tooling entail creating a master mold by machining the reverse of the part or piece to be produced out of an inexpensive material, then applying hand laid materials to the master mold. Other alternatives also include automated apparatuses that employ a computer controlled array of pin surface shapes to effect a mold surface at the ends of the pins. These alternative design methods also have drawbacks. After the materials are applied to the master mold, they in some cases must be subsequently affixed and cured in an oven, and then subjected to vacuum forces, causing these processes to sometimes be expensive, and very labor and time intensive to achieve desired quality. Similarly, known automated apparatuses tend to be very expensive and in the case of metal pins are limited by the fact that they are two dimensional in shape.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to provide an apparatus and method that allows for the efficient, inexpensive manufacture of items such as a mold or mold face that is inexpensive. Also, there is a further need for an apparatus and method for molding that can be reconfigured to differ shapes quickly and efficiently.